


Have You Tried Turning Me Off and On Again?

by cephalopod_groupie



Series: Newmann Tumblr Ficlets, Prompts, and AUs [7]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Bickering, Crushes, IT Help Desk, M/M, Swearing, pinkie prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2018-02-26 04:33:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2638220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cephalopod_groupie/pseuds/cephalopod_groupie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"College rivals where Newton needs to repair his laptop, but the student manning the IT support desk is Hermann." - pinkieblues</p>
            </blockquote>





	Have You Tried Turning Me Off and On Again?

Newton was so pissed that his rival sent him a malware-infected email. He made it look so real too. Like, he really thought the asshole had sent him an abstract to be kind. As if they were past their heated debate last week. Newton swore all the way to IT desk.

"Shiiiiiiit," he said under his breath.  _It’s that pale chiseled brooding guy. The guy I took a picture of with my laptop camera and USED AS MY WALLPAPER. Nooooooooooooo._ But it’s 8:45pm, his files are encrypted and he has a paper due TOMORROW at 11am. The hot thin guy looks over his dorky old-man glasses at him with a beautiful frown. Newton turned around, pretending he’d made a wrong turn.  _Ok ok, just go up to the desk. Maybe he won’t see the desktop picture of himself. Heeeellllpppp._

"Hi!" Newton says with  _WAY_  more enthusiasm than he intended. “I’m Newt. Um, some asshole sent me a well-disguised malware email. Like a total idiot I opened it -haha! and so, um,”  _don’t look at his lips, don’t look at his deep brown eyes,_ "My files are encrypted. And um, do you, like, have the time to restore it all, by like, say, tomorrow morning?"  _Phew._

The guy looked at the laptop and opened it. Newton was breathing heavily like he’d run down the steps to the basement IT desk. 

"I see," the guy said, opening the laptop and switching it on.  _What the hell kind of haircut do you call that anyhow?_

"What’s your name?" Newton said, the name HERMANN GOTTLIEB clearly stamped on the desk card in front of him.

"Hermann," the man said, engrossed in the problem at hand. "It is rather nasty, but it hasn’t been constructed by an expert hacker so I could manage to decrypt it by midnight at the latest."

"Oh, really dude? That would be great because I’ve got this paper I have to finish by 11 tomorrow."

"What was this student’s reason for sending you this malware?"

"We got into an argument about computers. He’s a Mac guy and I prefer my PC. Plus, he hates my guts because I have 2 more PHDs than he does."

"Why do you prefer PC? To play games on it?"

"Hey! What? No! What’s wrong with games? Mac’s useless for games…" 

"True." Hermann said, restarting the computer. Neither spoke for several minutes. "Are you Dr. Geiszler?" Newton nodded, and said "yep, that’s me."

"I’ve read your thesis on the military possibilities of using marine life as a line of defense. I found it most interesting."

"Really?"

"As impossible as it is, it is an intriguing theory."

"Impossible?! Hey, I essentially proved it…" How Hermann managed to bicker about the subject while running a complex decrypting program was beyond him and he instantly thought Hermann was totally badass. But he didn’t tell him that. Newton even brought him a coffee. His computer was up and running, 99% of his files returned to normal by 11:03pm. 

"Dude, you’re a genius!" Hermann actually smiled.  _Whoa, what a smile! Newton leaned on the desk for support, trying to look sexy._

"Off to write this badboy. Hopefully some other asshole will send me some more malware so I can have you fix it."  _Did that sound like too much of an obvious pick-up line? Who the fuck cares._ Newton left before he could see the reaction. Returned to his dorm and flopped onto the bed. He opened up his laptop to see his Hermann-themed wallpaper. Newton groaned.  _He probably thinks I’m a love-sick moro-_

The fuzzy candid shot of Hermann suddenly had a speech bubble above it. 

_"Would you like to go out with me? Stop by the desk and let me know."_  Newton grinned until it hurt.

 

**Author's Note:**

> [Original post.](http://missanthropicprinciple.tumblr.com/post/100015428003/au-before-i-sleep-college-rivals-where-newton-needs-to) 


End file.
